About Loreen

It came as no surprise when Loreen won Melodifestivalen, the Swedish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, but she did it with record figures; more than 670,000 of the four million viewers called in to vote for her song Euphoria. Afterwards Loreen was simply overwhelmed: ”A fantastic feeling, I almost started sobbing... but now I want to see what I can do better. Two months of preparation can do miracles!”

Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, just celebrated its 2012 final at Globen Arena in Stockholm. After the votes of 11 international juries and the Swedish people televote, it was clear that Loreen was the winner with the song Euphoria.

After four semi-finals and a second chance round in the past five weeks, tonight it was decided who will represent Sweden in Baku in a great top-quality entertainment show, the final of Melodifestivalen 2012.

David Lindgren was the perfect opener to the show: a performance full of energy and feel-good with his dance-pop song Shout It Out. Next was one of the acts that got a second chance, stage director and performer for the Royal Theatre Thorsten Flinck and his Revolution Orchestra with Jag Reser Mig Igen. "Hard Pop (Hallelujah!)" is a way to describe song number three, Mystery, in which the band Dead by April mixes pop melodies with a metal sound.

The most delicate song of the evening came after that, Why Start A Fire? by the popular singer/songwriter Lisa Miskovsky. Song number five Baby Doll by the Rockabilly band Top Cats was the other song that got a secong chance to reach the final and had Globen rocking and rolling. The top favourite to win the final, Loreen, wowed the audience with her special performance of Euphoria. The only mention of her name before the beginning of the song showed that something important was about to happen. The seven act, Ulrik Munther, is one of Sweden's youngest singer/songwriters and made a good rentition of his song Soldiers.

The most controversial entry came after that, Mirakel, by the poet Björn Ranelid featuring singer Sara Li which ended up last. The "broken-heart ballad" of the night was next, Why Am I Crying sang by one of its writers, Molly Sandén, who came third for Sweden at the 2006 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. And closing the final parade, Danny Saucedo who came second in last year's Melodifestivalen and came back again to fight until the very end to represent his country this year with Amazing but finished second again.

After the votes of the international juries in Belgium, Estonia, Cyprus, United Kingdom, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Ukraine, Malta, Germany, Ireland, Norway these were the results (50% of the total):

Then the Swedish televote awarded it's part, the remaining 50%, which counted no less than 2,053,432 votes, and Loreen was also the favourite.

Song 1: 102,308 5% 23 points

Song 2: 172,715 8.4% 40 points

Song 3: 119,473 5.8% 27 points

Song 4: 77,559 3.8% 18 points

Song 5: 142,688 7% 33 points

Song 6: 670,551 32.7% 154 points

Song 7: 112,025 5.4% 26 points

Song 8: 103,200 5% 24 points

Song 9: 94,525 4.6% 22 points

Song 10: 458,388 22.3% 106 points

TOTAL: 2,053,432 100% 473 points

So when the votes were combined, this was the final ranking list:

1. EUPHORIA - LOREEN 268 points

2. Amazing - Danny Saucedo 198 points

3. Soldiers - Ulrik Munther 88 points

3. Shout It Out - David Lindgren 88 points

5. Why Am I Crying? - Molly Sandén 77 points

6. Baby Doll - Top Cats 68 points

7. Mystery - Dead By April 52 points

8. Jag Reser Mig Igen - Thorsten Flinck 43 points

9. Why Start A Fire? - Lisa Miskovsky 39 points

10.Mirakel - Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li 25 points

Euphoria is written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström. Thomas G:son already has a song in the final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest as he co-wrote the Spanish entry Quédate Conmigo performed by Pastora Soler. Peter Boström also co-wrote the Norwegian entry, Tooji's Stay which, like Sweden, will also take part in the second semi-final on the 24th of May.

Loreen's Euphoria will represent Sweden at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku following the footsteps of last year's bronze medalist Eric Saade and his Popular.